1. Field of Invention
The invention relates generally to the memorial industry such as headstones, sculptures, statues, and more particularly, to a novel computer software program and a novel engraving process in the memorial industry.
2. Description of Related Art
Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a typically hard surface by cutting grooves into the surface. Common surfaces to engrave include glass, wood, stone or any other hard surface that will abrade away.
One type of engraved product is a memorial that is engraved into a stone. In this product, the engraving creates a design on the stone. Memorials serve as an object for the memory of a person or an event, often honoring and preserving the memory of someone who has died. A common type of memorial is a headstone to mark a grave site. The headstone, also referred to as a gravestone or a tombstone, is placed over a grave for a traditional burial. Another type of memorial is a memorial plaque, which commemorates the memory of an event or one or more people. Other memorials include sculptures, statues, fountains and landmark objects such as a park bench.
Conventionally in the memorial industry, the memorial creation process requires a skilled computer graphics person to create a layout which is a design of the memorial which needs to be approved the customer, typically the family of a deceased. After approval, the layout is sent to a “plotter” which is a device that cuts out a stencil of 1/16 inch rubber or “vinyl” material.
Once the design is complete, a person performs the labor intensive process referred to as “weeding.” In weeding, a person removes all cut letters to create open spaces which the layout will be sandblasted through. This conventional process requires a significant amount of work and is limited on how detailed a design can be, compared to a photo resist process. Next, the design is sandblasted, and then after that, paint is applied. Lastly, the design is cleaned and ready to be delivered. Since there is no tracking system, the customer typically becomes aware of the status of their order upon delivery.
However, this process of obtaining the customer's approval for the design layout highlights a problem in the engraving industry, which is the inability to show the customer exactly what their design will look like while the customer is still at the retail location and ready and willing to make a purchase. Although sometimes the customer approves the design layout without changes and the purchase can be made at that point, other times the customer prefers to make changes such as font size of the deceased's last name. One reason for this problem is that the current engraving process requires the collected information to be sent to a vender to design and produce the layout, a step which is undesirable. This is undesirable because the customer must wait (e.g., usually 2-3 days) for the vendor to provide the design layout of what the memorial will look like. By then, a large percentage of customers have changed their mind and decided not to purchase the memorial. This leads to wasted time and effort, and just as important, the number of sales drop by approximately 40% after the customer walks out the door, for a customer who had already submitted a design and was ready to make a purchase.
One way to minimize this problem is to have one or more graphic artists (e.g., professional draftsman) on site to draw the design layout while the customer is still at the retail location. However, most retail locations do not have the resources to have both a salesperson and a professional draftsman on site to help the customer, and therefore this option is not desirable, although currently performed by some businesses.
An additional problem in the engraving industry is the lack of software that allows the salesperson or the customer to track the production of their order as it proceeds through various stages. Without this software, the customer is unable to easily track the status of their order. Furthermore, when the customer does seek the status of their order, this takes time away from the salesperson and/or the vendor.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,894,924 to Proudfoot discloses a system and method for manufacturing a memorial. The method provides a blank pattern in a memorial design and collaboration system having a specified shape and size, and building a memorial preview thereon, then sending the memorial preview to a host computer. The host computer routes the memorial preview as a stored file to a manufacturer for projecting, onto a three-dimensional solid in the shape of said blank pattern. However, Proudfoot does not allow the ability for a person who is not a professional draftsman to create the design layout, does not allow the ability to track or monitor the production process after ordering, and does not allow a customized design template to be imported by a customer.
Even after the layout has been ordered, other companies in the memorial industry do not use the photo resist process. However, even within the photo resist process, the user cannot reposition the photo resist film on a surface of an object such that the design can be observed on the memorial, and such that the precise arrangement can be confirmed prior to adhesion. Once a conventional film is applied to the surface, it cannot be moved to a different part of the surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,764,449 to Vanlseghem provides a method of forming an engraved pattern in the surface of a complex contour on an object such as a wine globet. Vanlseghem has a photo resist laminate comprising a resist layer, a support membrane, and an adhesive layer, which are exposed with an ultraviolet light to leave a desired pattern. However, Vanlseghem's adhesive is like that of many conventional engravings, where the film's adhesive has a high degree of tack and cohesive strength. Vanlseghem's adhesive tends to bond almost instantaneously to a surface with slight contact pressure at the interface between the adhesive and the contacted surface. Since Vanlseghem's adhesive has a high degree of tack, it cannot be easily shifted, rotated, moved, or otherwise repositioned prior to applying pressure. Further, Vanlseghem does not apply the photo resist process to the memorial industry.